*** The 2015 Gym Rats Thread ***

Status
Not open for further replies.
Given that 90% of people do stuff wrong in the gym (hold the bar incorrectly, use atrocious form, whatever) I wouldn't worry about any of it. :)

And chins and dips use different muscles, so don't confuse them - both are very important, however...
 
Back from the gym, made a tiny bit of progress that left me grinning like an idiot.

Last week I could manage 1x70kg, today was 4x90KG. I did it at the end of my workout so I had a good pump going. Well chuffed with that :D

Sadly no dips today, and the free weights was a bit full but I used some dumbbells in the little room (where the scales are) for bicep curls, hammer curls and twisted bicep curls and lat raises.
 
digitalx said:
Back from the gym, made a tiny bit of progress that left me grinning like an idiot.

Last week I could manage 1x70kg, today was 4x90KG. I did it at the end of my workout so I had a good pump going. Well chuffed with that :D

Sadly no dips today, and the free weights was a bit full but I used some dumbbells in the little room (where the scales are) for bicep curls, hammer curls and twisted bicep curls and lat raises.
Click to expand...

You sure you need 3 different kinds of curls? lol
 
I don't NEED them, I was trying the twisted ones. I usually do hammer curls mainly. What's the problem with trying the others?

Sorry if it's not common or normal to do so many.
 
First day of stronglifts, I haven't been to the gym for 7years. Legs are burning after squats think ill start a log soon to keep track of progress and need to sort myself a diet out.
 
digitalx said:
Back from the gym, made a tiny bit of progress that left me grinning like an idiot.

Last week I could manage 1x70kg, today was 4x90KG. I did it at the end of my workout so I had a good pump going. Well chuffed with that :D

Sadly no dips today, and the free weights was a bit full but I used some dumbbells in the little room (where the scales are) for bicep curls, hammer curls and twisted bicep curls and lat raises.
Click to expand...

digitalx said:
I don't NEED them, I was trying the twisted ones. I usually do hammer curls mainly. What's the problem with trying the others?

Sorry if it's not common or normal to do so many.
Click to expand...

Curls are all good, but you need a little bit more to get huge-er. Chins (or lat pull-downs) as well as rows are probably the best exercises you can do as a noob. Curls will give you big biceps (eventually, after years of training), but huge arms look silly without decent shoulders, which will also look daft without a big back, which then looks ridiculous perched on top of chicken legs.

Plus you will build in rather unfortunate injury time bombs, too. Working broceps, chest and delts without any back work will put your shoulder in a compromised position, making you more at risk of particularly nasty shoulder injuries (torn rotator cuff, biceps long head, delts or even laberum... Not to mention pecs, neck spasms (from your under-powered back trying to stop your shoulders popping out).

Just thought I would leave that here... ;)

Do your deadlifts, squats, and chins: the rest of your body will get stronger, meaning you can curl more weight, anyway. :D

eviljester91 said:
First day of stronglifts, I haven't been to the gym for 7years. Legs are burning after squats think ill start a log soon to keep track of progress and need to sort myself a diet out.
Click to expand...

That first leg day... :o Enjoy tomorrow!

And logs are known to increase the rate of gains, so do it!
 
eviljester91 said:
First day of stronglifts, I haven't been to the gym for 7years. Legs are burning after squats think ill start a log soon to keep track of progress and need to sort myself a diet out.
Click to expand...

The first time I did squats I had to drive the car back into the garage when I'd finished. I nearly didn't manage it :D
 
So my personal trainer went to work on my legs last night, trying to sort out of some of my mobility issues when it comes to my squats. My god, it hurts today. I realise the DOMS probably haven't even arrived yet as its only been 12 hours but I can barely walk. I am not looking forward to the next 24 hours.
 
Did my first weights work out in over 18months last night. Was a beginner program deisgned to gently get you back into lifting.

I am wrecked. Still had the ideas in my head I could bench and squat in the 100's. Not any more, was blowing out my hoop after the workout.

Goblin squats, Stiff deads, OH press, bent rows, bench, used dumbells and tried to maintain form. Slightly embarrased to say the least, I used to be kinda strong, I guess the amount of injuries and the weight I have gained have killed my old gains.

Onward to the doms, first step to getting back on track. Cardio today :(
 
I have upped my eating game and put on some more weight, not a great deal but roughly where I was before I stopped. My weight fluctuates depending on if I am going or not so it bounces around -+5lbs or so. My weights are gone up slightly and I feel alright going apart from leg day. It was always a love hate thing with leg day, always felt like it was the bet workout but then hated not being able to walk properly the day or 2 afterwards.
However the issue I have now is immense pain in my hip and knee on a regular basis. I squat on leg day and it is causing a lot of discomfort in my left hip mostly although some what in my right to but not as bad. The pain in my right knee is brutal at times. The best way I can describe is that it feels like it needs to crack to release tension and it feels like the tendon is stuck on the right hand side of my knee cap and is going to ping over. Hard to describe but imagine an elastic band between thumb and index finger and with your other hand you stretch it from the middle. It is fine most of the time until I start training legs and after a few squats the pain in my hip starts to come back almost straight away and the pain in my knee isn't always there. This has cut my leg sessions short a lot of the time and I am suffering because of it.
I think from what I have read the hip pain is due to lack of glute activation in squats? This causes the hips to take up a lot of the slack and they aren't designed for it. I do throw in some glute exercises and I try and do lunges but again this causes knee pain quite regularly so I have to cut that short as well. No idea what to do about it other than to stretch and roll out the muscles.
 
Evening

I'm looking to pick up some 10kg bumper plates to work on some Olympic lifting as my 10kg iron plates are smaller in diameter so they're awkward to take off the floor. Question is how much would quality differ on these? Am I going to notice the difference between say...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5kg-25kg-...ilding-/181694299355?var=&hash=item2a4dd2fcdb

and

https://www.strengthshop.co.uk/weig...ck-bumper-plates/10kg-bumper-plate-black.html

As the only difference that I can see (apart from colour) is the printed logo - is it likely the case that these all come from the same factory somewhere and different shops (strengthshop, powerhouse fitness etc) get their logos printed on?

Cheers
 
Get cheap as you can.

In other news, do you have a spring steel bar or a regular Olympic barbell that cam with a load of plates? If the latter (you can tell by the sound it makes if you drop it onto your matts) then you are in for a world of pain...
 
mrthingyx said:
Get cheap as you can.

In other news, do you have a spring steel bar or a regular Olympic barbell that cam with a load of plates? If the latter (you can tell by the sound it makes if you drop it onto your matts) then you are in for a world of pain...
Click to expand...

Care to elaborate kind sir. We have a variety of bars at my gym and I just end up using whatever's free.
 
An Olympic lifting bar behaves very differently to a "regular" bar, with the latter being made from cheaper material and without cleanly rotating sleeves (or sleeves at all)... Meaning regular bars have:

- no whip to the bar (makes it a lot kinder to your body when snatching or cleaning/jerking);
- will destroy your wrists if their sleeves don't have any or at least smooth rotation;
- might be 32mm in diameter...

You CAN do Olympic lifting with them, but it is pretty miserable.

This is why Olympic lifting bars are (generally) a lot more expensive and potentially why most gyms don't bother with them.
 
mrthingyx said:
Get cheap as you can.

In other news, do you have a spring steel bar or a regular Olympic barbell that cam with a load of plates? If the latter (you can tell by the sound it makes if you drop it onto your matts) then you are in for a world of pain...
Click to expand...

I'm thinking probably the latter due to it being from a (relatively) cheap package. I can't see the actual set I have but it's something similar to this http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bom-b-max-185kg-oly-trigrip-kit.php

Not sure what sound I'm listening for but the bar will rotate without the sleeves/plates rotating if that's any good?
 
Jon33 said:
I'm thinking probably the latter due to it being from a (relatively) cheap package. I can't see the actual set I have but it's something similar to this http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/bom-b-max-185kg-oly-trigrip-kit.php

Not sure what sound I'm listening for but the bar will rotate without the sleeves/plates rotating if that's any good?
Click to expand...

You're probably fine to start using it for some Olympic lifting, so I wouldn't worry. If you're only looking at 40kg lifts, you may not even notice (you will know once you've used a "proper" Olympic lifting bar). :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom